Objective  To analyze self-rated health and its influencing factors among rural residents from poor families in China.

  Methods  Using multistage random sampling and probability proportional to size sampling and a structured questionnaire on self-rated health and its influencing factors, we interviewed 2 254 rural adults over 16 years old in 48 villages of 15 counties in 7 provinces and a municipality directly under the central government between January 2011 and April 2012. Kruskal-Wallis rank test and ordered logistic multivariate regression were used to analyze the data.

  Results  Of the participants, 1 154 (51.2 %) were male and 1 100 (48.8 %) were female. The age of the participants ranged between 16 and 98 years, with a mean of 44.28 years. Among the participants, 536 (23.78 %) did not finish or accept a primary school education; 704 (31.23 %) accepted primary school education; 960 (42.59 %) had junior or senior high school education; and only 54 (2.4 %) had higher education than high school education. The majority (1 410, 62.56%) of the participants were farmers and more than one third (844, 37.45 %) were engaged in working other than farming. The proportion of the participants reporting very good/good health status was 63.00 % (1 420/2 254). The level of self-rated health decreased gradually with the increment of the participants’ age and household medical expenditure (both P < 0.01) but increased with the participants’ education level (P < 0.05) and income (P < 0.01). The employed participants and the participants not suffering from chronic disease reported a significantly higher health status compared to those of unemployed (P < 0.05) and those suffering from some chronic diseases (P < 0.01).

  Conclusion  The self-rated health correlates positively with education level and annual household income but inversely with age and average annual medical expenditure for family members among rural residents of poor families in China and the residents of unemployed and suffering from chronic diseases are at a lower level of self-rated health.